Once the headquarters of Lusignan King Peter I...

LE QUID (KITI)

The village maintains - through its name - the naming of the ancient city of Kition that stood further in the north. The village was known under the name Kiti during the medieval times too. The historian Leontios Machairas mentions that the King of Cyprus, Peter, disembarked near Kiti on returning to the island from Asia Minor. This indicates that there was a mooring place in the village's coastal area.

However, the reason King Peter disembarked in Kiti was that he had a palace there, which he had built around 1367. The same writer reports that Kiti was one of the villages that were set on fire by the Saracens during their 1425 invasion of Cyprus.

During the Frank Domination era, Kiti was a feud belonging to the royal family of Cyprus and is referred in old maps as Chiti, Chitus, and Ciiti. Last owner of Kiti was Charles Lusignan. The village however was taken away from him by the King of Cyprus Jacob II because Charles had remained loyal to Jacob's adversary, the legitimate Queen of Cyprus Charlotte.

During medieval times Kiti had fortifications that protected the royal villa. Within its administrative range there also are archeological remains from the Neolithic era. Kiti was probably first-built during the 3rd - 4th century by inhabitants of the ancient city of Kition, who moved further south and created today's Kiti feeling angry about the constant pirate raids they sustained.

Chiti would seem to have been a place of some importance before Larnaca, "Les Salines", came into existence in the XVth century. Here King Peter I made his headquarters when he was organising his brilliant exploits against the Moslems in Egypt, Syria and Asia Minor, between the years 1361-1367. From Chiti, that is to say from Larnaca Bay, the Cypriot fleet of 106 ships set out at the beginning of October, 1365, for the capture of Alexandria, a feat which made a grand impression on the world of that period. (Strambaldi, p. 83.)

The prehistoric town of Kitium seems sufficiently recorded in the name of this village: in the middle ages it was known as "Le Quid", and was of some importance before Larnaca came into prominence as the chief "scala" of the island. Stefano Lusignano (Stephan Lusignan) mentions "Casal Chiti il quale é grande e pieno di giardini, et d'ogni frutto, et questo fu feudo di Chiarione, over Garin Lusignano: del quale fu privato dall ultimo Re bastardo, et dipoi fu venduto dalla Signoria di Venetia alli Podochatari".